Kingsville Knights take silver in 18U OBA tournament

Hosting the U18 OBA tournament over August 18, 19 and 20, the hometown boys did not disappoint as they made an appearance in the championship game in the 12team double knockout competition.

With wins over Port Lambton, Halton Hills, Dorchester and Kincardine, the U18 Knights faced off for a second time against the heavy hitting Pirates of Port Lambton who came into the finals with a five-game winning streak of their own.

Port Lambton jumped out to an early 3-0 lead against starter Jimmy Hildebrand of Kingsville, but great defence by both sides then kept the teams off of the scoresheet until Kingsville broke through with a run in the third as Nathan Smith singled in Riley Lu who was aboard with a single of his own.

The momentum really shifted in the bottom of the fifth as Port Lambton pushed six runs across to take a commanding 10-1 lead, chasing Hildebrand from the mound.

In the top of the sixth, Kingsville jumped back into contention as they put together a timely rally scoring four runs.

Catcher Emit Paquette came up with the big hit as he doubled with the bases loaded scoring Jimmy Hildebrand, Nick Wright and Josh Mann. Ottavio Ruggirello singled in Paquette to finish the Knights scoring in the sixth.

Nathan Smith took the mound for Kingsville in the sixth and gave up a single run to leave the score 11-5 for Port Lambton heading into the final inning.

The local boys attempted to stage a dramatic comeback in the seventh as Paquette knocked in Hildebrand and Wright early in the inning.

The Pirates’ relief pitching buckled down and held Kingsville to just the two runs to finish with an 11-7 victory for the OBA title.

Kingsville’s manager Brent Murray was asked about his thoughts on the championship game and said, “We knew Port Lambton would get out to a fast start and they did. They were hitting the ball all day long in their earlier games. Our kids hung around, but we had that one bad inning. We put together two good innings, so at least we went down kicking and screaming.”

Murray further commented about this tournament saying that the thought to host it came about as he and his team were driving back from the OBAs in Kincardine last year.

“My first call was to Rob Markham and he ended up putting together a fantastic umpiring crew,” he said. “My second call was to Bobbi-Jo Reive to ask her to be the convenor, she has quite the resume with Kingsville minor ball and Baseball Ontario, she agreed, and she did a phenomenal job organizing this tournament.”

The Leamington Lakers beat St. Marys and Listowel, but lost to Exeter and Port Lambton to bow out of the tournament.

SUN photos by Paul Forman